


Post No Control Project

by 5_Seconds_of_Summer



Category: One Direction (Band), zayn malik - Fandom
Genre: Aftermath of Project No Control, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, featuring a Larry Stylinson Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-03-31 06:44:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3968362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5_Seconds_of_Summer/pseuds/5_Seconds_of_Summer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis is beyond words over Project No Control. Seeing just how happy Louis is, and the fact that they have officially dropped Modest! as their management company, Harry wants to make sure Louis never forgets this moment. </p>
<p>--</p>
<p>Or, what happens in the aftermath of Project No Control</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Buildup

**Author's Note:**

  * For [a-bit-extraordilarry](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=a-bit-extraordilarry).



> This story will have five parts. The first part has no dialogue in it. I am so sorry. It's just a bit of backdrop of what has been going on. The next part, which will be come out tomorrow (20 May), will be a lot better. You may just want to wait until that one is up before you begin reading. 
> 
> This idea is based on a (not-really) [prompt](http://a-bit-extraordilarry.tumblr.com/post/88602212879/headcanon) on Tumblr. by the user [a-bit-extraordilarry](http://a-bit-extraordilarry.tumblr.com/).

To say Louis was effected by the No Control Project would be an understatement. It was evident in the way he took to thanking everyone on Twitter and how often he brought it up during interviews. Not to mention that it came at a very important time in his and, well, the rest of One Direction’s life. With Zayn leaving the band, infamous Twitter feuds (with Naughty Boy _and_ Zayn), it was a shaky transitioning period for One Direction.

Not only were they going to be changing their sound again – kind of inevitable with one whole person down – they were also getting ready to switch management labels. Yes, finally after almost five years with the god awful Modest! Management, One Direction were finally going to be able to gain a little bit more control over their careers.

It had been a long time coming, even the heads of Modest! themselves, know that their biggest act will be dropping them come the thirty-first of May. Which, is probably why they aren’t putting up much of a fight in terms of undoing a lot of Modest!’s own mistakes – well, at least according to the boys themselves. Starting of course with none other than Louis’ long-term beard.

Eleanor definitely had to go. And since her contract was going to end in the middle of March anyway, Modest! as well as the members of One Direction saw no need to extend it. So, with a little _too_ much of a smirk, Louis kicked her out the door. After that, there was talk of Harry and Louis coming out together of course, but that was shot down almost immediately by the homophobes at Modest!

That was only a small set back though. Instead of sulking over the predictable answer, Louis took to the clubs instead. Sure, the first time he thought of venturing his way to the front step of a local bar was to get back at Modest! for not letting him and Harry come out, but after that first night, he realised just how much he missed it.

In the beginning of One Direction’s days, Louis was always the partier of the group. He loves the attention on him, loves being under all of the lights. He loves losing all of his crazy thoughts and stress in the form of dancing, loves taking shot after shot with whomever is around. That phase soon faded out though when he started dating Harry.

It’s not that Harry forced him to, it was quite the opposite really. Harry didn’t want to be the reason that Louis couldn’t go out and do the fun things he enjoyed. However, with his curly locks and green eyes, Louis began redefining his definition on the word fun. Sure, he still liked to throw back some with Niall every now and again, but there was something enticing about staying up just talking to Harry, too.

Louis got to know how loving Harry was during that time. Of course he always knew just how gentle the lad was. It’s not like he was immune to his charm in the X-Factor house, but spending three or four hours after every concert talking to him was a bit different. He learned about his penchant for weird accessories – which quickly led to the scarf headband purchases Louis made every chance he got, only to give to Harry the first chance he got. He learned about Harry’s relationship with his mother and sister. He learned about how Harry wanted a family at some point in his life as well. He learned how Harry carefully chose every word that he spoke of, enunciating them each with the amount of fineness they deserved. And he especially learned just how terrible he was at making jokes. It was only later that Louis began to learn the more intimate details of Harry’s.

Louis remembers very little from school, as he wasn’t the most studious of his peers, but he does remember lovely quotes his literature teacher swore by. One of his favourites was by Ingrid Bergmun, “A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.” Louis never knew how true those words were until about halfway through their first tour, when it seemed Louis had learned everything there was to know about Harry at the time. It took him a minute to conjure up the quote in his head, and all but a second to act upon it.

From there, their physical relationship increased tenfold. First kissing, then snogging, which naturally lead to the occasional hand job. It seemed like it had been only a couple of months before Harry was going down on Louis. Though a bit surprised by Harry’s forthrightness at first, Louis didn’t hesitate to return the favour minutes later.

Since then, Harry and Louis had a pretty healthy sex life. They had the occasional row with each other, sometimes leading to the refrainment of sex for days, but nothing long enough to leave them in a real dry spell. It was hard for both of them to live without the other. Having to see them almost twenty four-seven and avoid talking to them at all costs can only go so far.

Either way, with or without sex, Louis quickly learned that it was better to be as close to Harry as possible, even if they weren’t exactly on speaking terms. As a result, Louis had all but forgotten about going out to a club. Something that the heads of Modest! were thrilled about when they had first brought up mentions of Eleanor. After all, how bad would it have looked if he was supposedly dating someone and hitting up the bars every other night.

Now that she was out of the picture though, and not able to have Harry by his side publically quite yet, the idea of going to the club seemed exciting once more. Modest! wasn’t too angry about it either. Logically, if he was getting out of a long-term relationship, he would be living it up again right afterwards. It was only for a couple of months though.

After Louis had his few weeks of fun with Liam, Niall and Zayn, he knew he would happily go back to Harry’s side again. At the end of the day, he can remember those long nights in the beginning with Harry. Three years later, and those nights _still_ beat anything else he could be doing.

Of course, the idea of those crazy nights with Liam, Niall and Zayn quickly turned to just Liam and Niall. It was the end of March, just a week after his split with Eleanor, that Zayn told them he was leaving the band. Though not entirely surprising to anyone who saw Zayn every day, it _was_ a bit surprising that he couldn’t wait until their contract was up until the end of May to officially leave the band.

Louis isn’t sure what officially pushed him to do it. Was it the rumours about him cheating on his fiancé? Was it just the fact that Zayn hated being in the limelight? Was it the pressure he was getting from his new producer Naughty Boy? It’s been two months and Louis _still_ isn’t really sure what was the last straw for Zayn. Naturally, it lead to many arguments – some in the public eye, but most behind closed doors – between the two of them. It wasn’t until Naughty Boy made fun of his vocals and Zayn just sat back and watched that Louis began to completely hate Zayn.

Forget all that shit about ‘brothers for life.’ Zayn _knew_ how much Louis was insecure about his voice. Zayn has been at the end of many crying sessions where Louis scrolls through his mentions on Twitter. He witnessed first had how little he sung during X-Factor and the first few albums of theirs. To just sit by and let some outsider critisise him like that was unforgiveable in Louis’ mind.

Which, is why Project No Control, as the fans have so cleverly dubbed it, is so important to him. Not only is it uniting the fan group after the whole Zayn debacle, it’s the fans’ way of supporting Louis and the remaining members of One Direction. Louis has been online, has read the articles in which some fans have been quoted saying how “No Control” was picked as the single because it featured Louis’ voice and that they just want him to know they love his voice. He understands that it is a way to unify they group. He also loves how it is a big Fuck You to their management label and Louis could not be more proud.

It’s why he has taken to thanking them as many times as possible – well, as much as he can while still keeping up his snarky image. The members of One Direction are constantly thanking their fans. Louis know this, he was trained to do that. Though sometimes even Louis finds the loss of sincerity in his words from having to use it over and over again, he has meant every single word that he has said about Project No Control.

A fact that had become evident during the Billboard Music Awards when Louis couldn’t help but bring it up again during the post-show interview. It’s not like he had to, the question wasn’t even necessarily _about_ “No Control,” but Louis can’t help but to bring it up as many times as he can. For once, he is able to look online and see that they are reaching a larger audience. People are finally starting to realise they aren’t just the five quirky lads that had that “What Makes You Beautiful” hit.

Even now, the night before they are switching management companies, “No Control” is still being played on the radio everywhere. Tomorrow, Harry and Louis were officially set to come out and Louis was still buzzing about “No Control.” He feels like he did back when their first single came out. He remembers screaming at the top of his lungs every time “What Makes You Beautiful” came on the radio, and that wasn’t even a good _song_! Louis is finally getting his three year wish coming true, and the only thing he can think to do is sing along to his part in “No Control” as it comes on the radio yet again.

Harry can only look on fondly though. He knows how much this means to Louis. He can see just how much it has effected Louis even by looking at his physical appearance. He isn’t as tired looking all of the time, is more likely to be smiling when you look his way, and he hasn’t mentioned Zayn once in the past week. Which is why, he was planning a huge surprise for Louis tomorrow.

See, Louis knew that something was going to happen during their show. They had been planning out just how to come out during the past few months. It was Harry who had suggested making some type of speech during their first concert back after their two month break. Though it was pushed to the side at first, it seemed people kept coming back to it during their early discussions of it. After a week of that, it was officially picked as the best way to come out. It was more personal than a press release, but would quickly spread thanks to the thousands of people who would be attending the concert and the use of social media.

They had gone over the plan countless amounts of times by now. Each member knew their job during the time Harry first began speaking. They knew where they needed to be on stage, where to look, what was going to be said. Everything had to be perfect and clear to make sure there was a good shot somewhere. Of course they had professional recording set to take place, but they knew fans would be the first at getting the news out. So of course, Harry decided he was going to throw all of those careful plans away.

Seeing how excited and happy Louis was in these past couple of weeks really got Harry thinking. Though Harry knew Louis would never forget about this point in his life, he wanted to make absolute sure of it. So, Harry went out and did something a little stupid. He knew he was going to get chewed out by it a bit from their new management label, but the fact of the matter is that they were going to come out anyways, why not do it with a big bang?


	2. The Appreciation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've fallen a bit too in love with this story. I've decided to make it five parts, instead of only two. The chapters will go as follows:   
> 1\. The back story  
> 2\. Thanking the fans  
> 3\. The proposal  
> 4\. Smut  
> 5\. Interview the next day explaining everything  
> 6? If anyone would like another scene to be written, just request it below and I will gladly write it! Thanks!
> 
> I will be posting one every day until it is over.   
> Also, some things that might be a bit confusing in this chapter because I've decided to take creators control and make shit up.   
> 1\. This concert in this chapter is the first one they have played since Zayn left the band.   
> 2\. Somehow, they are magically allowed to come out together the first day with their new management company.   
> I think that's it, but let me know if you are confused by something.

The four members of One Direction woke up bright and early the morning of the big day. Though some may believe their alertness at such an hour was due to their months off, it was actually due to the fact that One Direction were officially free from Modest! Management.

Also, Harry and Louis were coming out today.

“Good morning, darling,” Louis says, rolling over so he was laying on top of Harry. He leans down and presses their lips together, lingering a bit longer than usual. Harry’s hands reach down to lay on Louis’ bum, just relaxing them there as he continues to kiss Louis. Louis pulls back, snaking his arms underneath Harry’s back as he turns to press his cheek to Harry’s heart, snuggling into the warmth.

“You’re always so cuddly in the morning,” Harry comments, beginning to move his hands up and down the length of Louis’ back. It’s silent for a minute, both of them closing their eyes without allowing themselves to fall asleep. Harry breaks the silence with a low murmur of, “Today’s the day.” He presses a kiss to the top of Louis’ head, which causes Louis to kiss Harry’s chest.

“I’m so happy. I genuinely cannot believe this is happening. We’ve been fighting for this our whole lives it seems. The fact that we actually get to come out today is amazing. Hopefully everything goes well. I’m afraid I’m going to start crying,” Louis says. “You’re going to start up with your lovely speech and I’m going to ruin the whole video with my tears.”

“That wouldn’t ruin the video, baby. If anything, it would just make it better, more realistic. Besides, it doesn’t matter if the video is ruined. It’s still going to be a great day. Hopefully one that we will remember always. To think we can leave the concert venue holding hands is astounding to me, but I cannot wait to do so. Today, and tomorrow, and every day after that.

“Thank you for the past couple years, Lou,” Harry continues. “Thanks for sticking by me and always making up with me after we get in stupid fights. Thanks for choosing to spend all of those long nights with me even though I know you wanted to go out with the boys sometimes. Thank you for spoiling me with all of your gifts and choosing to love me after all of this time. I love you,” Harry says, making sure to say it with as much intensity as he is feeling. “I love you, so much and I hope you know that and I hope you feel the same way. Though this kind of feels like the end in some regards, I really hope this is just the beginning between us.”

“Wow, you are extra sappy this morning, Styles. But I will have you know that I love you just as much as you love me, maybe even _more_ ,” Louis responds.

“No way. I definitely love _you_ more,” Harry retorts.

“Nope.”

“Yes.”

“No. You’ll see. One day, I’m going to get down on my knee for you. And not in that way you dirty minded person. Get your mind out of the gutter. I’m going to propose with the sappiest speech in the history of the world and you, of course, are going to say y-”

Harry cuts Louis off with, “And what makes you so confident I will say yes?”

“Because, _Harold_. You are just _dying_ to be Mr. Harry Tomlinson,” Louis reminds him.

“Oh, yeah? And what makes you so sure that you will be the one proposing? Maybe I’m going to beat you to it,” Harry says with full dimples on display. “I could have already bought a ring and you would have no idea.”

“Right,” Louis deadpans. “Harry, love, you’re only twenty one years old. I, on the other hand, am a much more mature twenty three year old. Naturally, I would be the one to propose to you first,” Louis says, peering up at Harry through his eyelashes as his chin rests on Harry’s chest.

“More mature?” Harry says, mock offended. “No way. There’s no way. You, Louis Tomlinson, are the least mature person I know. _Lux_ is more mature than you are and she’s only three and a half.”

“I resent that,” Louis says quickly.

“Besides, even if I was the one to propose, I would still want to take your surname. So, there’s no need to even talk about this. We have a busy day ahead of ourselves,” Harry reminds Louis. Not that he would have forgotten, of course.

“Fine, but just to be certain, let’s make sure I’m the one proposing to you and not the other way around, okay?” Louis says.

“I make no promises,” Harry says, smirking. His smirk is quickly turned into a large grin though, so Louis just gives him a quick glare before he is rolling off of Harry and the bed to make his way to the ensuite. Harry follows behind Louis, shucking his pajama bottoms and boxer briefs off as he goes. “Mmm,” Harry moans lightly upon seeing Louis’ panty clad bum. “I love when you were these,” Harry says, reaching down to squeeze his bum lightly and the red lace panties. “Did you purposely wear my favourite pair for today?”

“Maybe, but this is nothing compared to the ones I have picked out for tonight,” Louis says, throwing a wink over his shoulder at Harry. “I may have gone out to by something special so we can _really_ celebrate tonight. Unless of course, you can’t handle it. Then I’ll just have to throw on those black ones you got me for my birthday last year.”

“When have I _not_ been able to handle something, Lou?” Harry taunts, mind already racing with the possibilities for their night.

“When I called you daddy for the first time,” Louis reminds him.

Harry sputters, cheeks turning pink for a second before he says, “Well yes, but I’m _younger_ than you.”

“You don’t seem to have a problem with it anymore,” Louis retorts.

“Of course not, it just took my surprise that first time, ‘s all. Don’t worry about it, I can handle whatever you have planned for tonight,” Harry says, stepping over to the shower to turn it on, while Louis finishes removing all of his clothes.

“What if I told you it involved a lovely toy I purchased the other day?” Louis says promiscuously.

“I’d say bring it on,” Harry says, stepping into the warm shower. “It’s not like it’s the first time we ever used one.”

“True, but you don’t have to worry too much about that anyway. There’s no toys, just some lingerie. I wanted today to just be slow and sweet, special. Just me and you, nothing too funny. I want it to last,” Louis says, sliding in behind Harry.

“That sounds really nice actually. When was the last time we just made love like that? I can’t even remember,” Harry says, reaching around Louis for the shampoo.

“Exactly, I figured we could make today even more special that way. Not that I don’t love our normal sex. Of course I do, just, maybe a bit more relaxed today could be fun too,” Louis says. From there, it’s a quick morning of getting ready. They finish their shower and brush their teeth, throwing on the first articles of clothing they lay their hands on as they know they will be changing into their performance clothes for the night as soon as they get to the venue.

They make their way down to the car, dropping hands as the leave the safety of the hotel, smiling to themselves because this will be the last time they’ll have to do that. Niall and Liam are already waiting in the car, both giving them a big hug and kiss on the cheek as they enter. All of them buzzing with excitement. Of course, Liam, Niall and Harry are just a bit _more_ excited knowing what’s to come, but that’s neither here nor there.

They eat a quick breakfast at the venue before reporting for sound check on the main stage. And the rest of the afternoon passes in a blur as they change clothes, prepare for the concert, and also Harry and Louis’ coming out. They have their new managers with them at the venue, each of them trying to rehearse lines with the four of them a couple times before it’s the real thing. It doesn’t really work, Liam and Niall can’t really find themselves able to do it as they know it doesn’t even matter anyway. They already know their new lines thanks to Harry’s impromptu proposal. Harry on the other hand, is getting a bit too jittery with the nerves to have the patience to rehearse his not-actually-going-to-happen lines.

Ever since his and Louis’ talk this morning, Harry is suddenly second guessing his proposal. What if Louis says no because he wants to do the proposing himself? That would be a bit embarrassing to do on stage in front of a hundred thousand people. Liam and Niall are quick to reassure him though. It doesn’t take much convincing if Harry is being honest, he knows Louis loves him. Plus, it would be a funny story to tell the kids.

Before Harry can go too in depth on his thoughts of a future family with Louis, he as well as the rest of One Direction, are being called into places. They do their last minute rituals in a rush, before running to their correct location under the stage. They hear the screaming get louder as their intro video starts, and they shake out any last minute nerves before the platforms they are standing on rise and they are officially on stage.

“Hello, London!” Harry says into his microphone. He waits for the screams to die down before he continues, soft music playing in the background. “Hello,” Harry begins again smiling. “Normally we like to start off our shows with a big hit, get you pumped for what’s to come.” Again, more screaming. “But today we’re going to change it up a bit, if you don’t mind of course.” More screams. “You see, Louis, Niall, Liam and I just wanted to start by saying a massive thank you to you all. We honestly didn’t know if people would show up tonight. It’s been a hectic couple of months for our band, hectic couple of _years_ really, but especially these past few months. You have stood by our sides through it all though, and we are forever grateful. We love you all.” Screams.

“We also want to give a big thanks to everyone on social media,” Liam continues. “You’ve stuck up for us even when you were unclear of what was happening at times. Unfortunately, we cannot give you all of the answers tonight. You have to understand even we are in the dark about some stuff. However, we are going to try and clear up a few things by the end of the show. So, for all of you trying to leave early in order to beat the traffic, you may want to stay until the end for this one.”

“I know we say time and time again how incredibly honoured we are to have you all as our fans – our family, but we just mean it even more now,” Niall says. “You make everything possible for us, even in times like this. We owe you so much. We have fans everywhere in the world currently, but we are excited to be at home for what will truly be the show of all shows. This is just one of the ways we can return the favour for all that you have done these past couple months.” Cheers.

“Lastly,” Louis chimes in. “I, as well as all of these lads on stage with me, want to thank each and every one of you for support in Project No Control. We’ve been doing this for about half a decade now, and just when we thought we had accomplished everything, you lot proved us wrong. You all of done something so unheard of, people are still talking about it a month later.” Chants of Louis fill the stadium, causing Louis to begin tearing up.

“I wasn’t going to cry, I promise myself,” Louis sniffles into the microphone. “Oh, well, I guess that’s one more thing changing nowadays. Anyways, I’ve been on social media like crazy these past couple of weeks. I know the reasons you all came together to do this. So, I want to take this time for sticking up for me and my voice when others have put it down. I want to thank you all for coming together and bringing a focus back to the music when we let things get a little out of hand. We also want to thank you for getting our music out to the rest of the world. The way you promote us was even better than our own management company… Which is why we are happy to say that as of today, we are no longer associated with Modest! Management.” Cheers echo through the stadium as the beginning chords of “No Control” start up. “Thank you, we love you, here’s ‘No Control!’” Louis yells into the microphone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, chapter 3 will be out tomorrow.


	3. The Proposal

The concert goes smoothly. The four members of One Direction each take their designated turns speaking to the crowd. It’s nice, is the thing. It has been so long since they have toured, and even though it does get tiring at times, nothing beats the adrenaline rush they get during a show. Even the speaking parts come naturally as they have been doing it for years now. It’s only on the second to last song that Harry’s nerves really begin to hit.

They were meant to come out right before the last song as a sort of grand finale type of thing. It makes sense, but suddenly Harry is wishing he could have just gotten over with it already. Then again, as Niall is making the announcement for “18,” the next song they are singing as a sort of prelude to the whole debacle, Harry realises that he would have been just as nervous then, as he is now.

Besides, if he is able to think past the fluttering of his stomach and the pounding of his heart, Harry can tell that he is actually quite excited about the whole thing. Which, of course he would be. He’s asking his soulmate to marry him in five minutes. He’s going to be able to call Louis his fiancé. Who wouldn’t be excited to call Louis Tomlinson their fiancé?

The beginning chords of “18” start playing. As Harry’s opening lines begin, he can’t help but turn to Louis. Louis is already looking back at Harry, both knowing what’s about to come. It’s a bit strange, actually. They’ve been told for the past five years that they had to limit the amount of contact they shared on stage, be it physical or eye contact. To just be able to sing a song Ed wrote for them, Harry and Louis, on stage _to_ Louis is amazing.

As Liam starts singing Zayn’s original part, Harry begins making his way over to Louis. He can hear the crowd get a bit more excited than usual. Honestly, it’s completely expected as Louis and Harry usually avoid each other during love songs like this – or well, _any_ song really. As the song switches back to Harry for the chorus, his nerves begin to slip away.

And it’s weird, is the thing. Harry knows he should be getting _more_ nervous, not less, but he is only a couple meters away from Louis now and singing, “ _I have loved you since we were eighteen_.” Literally, right to him. Right to his face, staring into those blue, blue eyes. He’s not even pretending to look at the crowd anymore. He knows he has a dopey smile on his face, but Harry can’t bring himself to care all that much because Louis is looking back at him with the exact same expression.

He’s giddy. He’s a thirteen year old girl. He should be sitting in the crowd right now. Harry giggles as Niall’s part starts. Harry is partially aware of the screaming in the background, but he can’t focus on it as Louis begins covering Zayn’s part. Such a lovely voice, indeed. He finds himself mechanically joining in for the chorus with all of the lads, turning to face the crowd again, eyes still peeking at Louis out of the corner.

Time stills for a couple seconds. See, the thing is, Harry _knows_ how much Louis’ feud with Zayn is weighing on Louis. And as much as Louis probably doesn’t want to admit it, Harry knows that Louis would want Zayn to be there when Harry proposes. And to be fair, it wasn’t _easy_. He had to do a lot of begging over the phone, a lot of whining, but Zayn finally agreed to come.

Of course there were conditions. He wasn’t going to perform the whole concert, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to become sudden best friends with Louis again, but that was all going to happen in due time. All of them knew that Zayn would be rejoining One Direction after he releases his solo album. That doesn’t mean there weren’t going to be things needed to be worked out first, but that was for another day and time.

Instead of coming in for Zayn’s part, Liam says, “Let’s have a warm welcome back for our brother, Zayn Malik!” It’s almost comical the way Louis’ eyes widen. He goes through almost seven emotions in a matter of seconds before Zayn comes in at his part, crooning, “ _Kiss me where I lay down, my hands pressed to your cheeks, a long way from the playground_.”

Louis misses his next couple of lines, but that doesn’t matter as he wouldn’t have been heard over the deafening screams anyway. In fact, none of them sing the rest of the song. Niall is too busy happily bouncing across the stage to give Zayn a hug, Liam following shortly behind him. Louis is quickly darting his eyes between Zayn and Harry, looking like he has seen a ghost. Zayn is hugging Liam and Niall back, but his eyes are only on Louis. And Harry? Harry is just still so stupidly in love with Louis.

As the song comes to an ending, the crowd gets even _louder_. Harry isn’t sure how that’s actually possible, but he is grateful for it. In the ten minutes it takes for them to quiet enough for one of them to speak, the five members of One Direction sort themselves out. All of them are quick to mute their microphones, all forming a small group around Louis and Harry who are standing in the middle of the stage.

Louis surprises them all when he bursts into tears, throwing himself into Zayn’s arms. He’s not even sure why he’s apologising, but he is doing so profusely into Zayn’s ear. Harry’s nervous for all of a second, not sure how Zayn will react as it was one of his conditions, but he finds himself letting out a breath as Zayn wraps his arms around Louis. “It’s okay, Lou. It’s okay. We’ll work it out, it’s okay. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You need to stop crying, Lou. If what Harry told me over the phone is true, you have a big moment coming up here. I’m so proud of you, Lou. So proud. I’m sorry, so so sorry. We’ll talk after, yeah?”

“Okay, yeah,” Louis agrees, nodding his head as he takes a step back. He gives him one more incredulous look, almost not believing that he is even here in the first place. He wipes his tears away, beginning to form a small smile on his face as he looks over at Harry. After an extremely fond moment between the two, Harry turns around to turn on his microphone again.

“Hello again, London,” Harry begins. The screams get a bit louder again. “This isn’t going to work well if you can’t hear us.” After a few more minutes, the audience seems to calm down – well, as much as they can with all five members on stage together again. God, it hasn’t even been one full show _without_ Zayn yet. “We have one more song left for tonight, one off of our last album. But before we begin that one, we wanted to try and clear up the air about a few things first.

“Firstly, as we have mentioned before,” Harry continues. “We have switched management companies.” After the next bout of screaming dies down, Harry begins again. “We were all relatively young when we got started on _X-Factor_. We decided to sign a contract together, and at the time, it was the best decision we have ever made. Modest! are the reason we are here today. Well, them, plus all of you lovely folks,” Harry throws in with a cheeky smile. “The problems was, after a few years, we began to see some flaws with our contract. We grew older, and we began knowing what we were doing and what we wanted and we began to see certain restrictions in a different light.

“Now, you may be wondering why Zayn is here, back with us again on stage. But, before you get your hopes up, Zayn will _not_ be rejoining One Direction at this time,” Harry says. After a quick couple of ‘boo’s start up from the crowd, Harry is quick to say. “No, no, none of that here. We have all made our decisions. Though we are all sad to see him go,” Harry continues, turning back to face Zayn for a split second. “It is the best thing for him at this time.

“Now, you are probably all wondering why he _is_ here then, if he is not rejoining the band. This leads me to our last surprise of the night. You see, part of our old contract forbade us from doing certain things, or acting certain ways,” Harry says. They crowd begins whispering to each other at this point, all guessing what was about to happen. “Louis,” Harry says, turning back towards the man. “Care to join me up here for a bit?” Harry asks, throwing in a cheeky wink.

“Why, of course,” Louis says, taking the few steps necessary to be next to Harry again. Harry passes Louis the microphone, happy to just let him take over for a few minutes. “Hello, everyone. There has been a lot of speculation over the years as to whether Harry and I are secretly dating.” They wait a couple minutes for the screaming to die down again. “Well, we’re here before you today, finally able to confirm it. Harry and I _are_ in a relationship. We have been for quite some time, and we hope to be for quite a bit more.”

No one is able to register anything for a while. All hell breaks loose when Harry can’t help but to lean down and kiss Louis. It wasn’t necessarily in the script, but then again, neither was the next thing he was about to do. He pulls back from the kiss, reaching for the microphone again.

“Alright, alright,” Harry says, trying to calm the crowd down again. It takes a while, and a bit more prodding on Harry’s part, but it gets to be relatively quiet again. “We appreciate all of your love and support you’ve had for us in the past, and we hope to see that continue in the future. We have one more song for you tonight, thank you for sticking with us through that. I want to dedicate this next song to my boyfriend, Louis Tomlinson. I know you’re out there somewhere, I hope you like this.” The crowd laughs at Harry’s joke as Harry turns to kiss Louis one more time before turning back to the others. “Here’s ‘Ready to Run!’”

Harry grabs hold of Louis’ hand as he begins the song. Both of them all smiles through the rest of the song. As Zayn finishes up the last word, all five of them meet back at center stage. They bow in synchronised movements, before Harry is speaking into his microphone again. “Thank you, we’ve been One Direction.”

Usually the floor lowers at this point, but nothing happens, all of them just waiting for more applause. Though the crowd is suddenly wondering what is going on, all five of them know what’s coming next. The last part of the night was going to be a Twitter Q and A with questions their management had made up. It was just a way to clear the air about a few little things to leave on a good note after all of the drama had unfolded – not only in the past half hour, but in the past couple of months as well.

“Alright,” Harry says through his microphone. “This is usually the part where we leave for the night, but I’m sure none of you want to go quite yet, am I right?” Harry asks, only to be answered with screams. “It’s been a while since we have done some Twitter Q and As, so in celebration, we’ve decided we’re going to do one tonight in celebration of all that is happening.”

“Alright, first question,” Liam takes over. “What do we all think about Project No Control?” Liam asks, reading off of the screen. “Louis, why don’t you take this one as it seems to mostly concern you,” Liam offers.

“Right. Well, as I said before, I’m extremely flattered. We couldn’t have asked for better fans. I’m still gobsmacked as to all that has happened with it. There is just no stopping you lot. I would almost say you have ‘no control.’” Louis says, laughing.

“That was as bad as Harry’s jokes,” Niall interrupts shortly after, earning a few laughs throughout the stadium. “Anyways, next question.” All five of them continue to answer questions for the next five minutes. They do some weird dance moves, clear up some information on when Harry and Louis started dating, and talk about their upcoming album – even Zayn talks about his for a bit. On the last question, Niall reads out, “Tell us your best ‘Knock Knock’ joke, Harry.”

“Alright, no pressure,” Harry says, laughing a little. He pretends to think about it before he widens his eyes in excitement and turns to Louis. “Okay, I have one. Louis. Knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?” Louis says, already rolling his eyes.

“Mary.”

“Mary who?”

Harry pauses for a second, gaining up his last minute, but very much needed, courage. “Marry me?” Harry asks, innocently tilting his head to the side, eyebrows raised in question.

Louis’ eyes widen for a split second before chuckling a little bit manically. “Oh. Haha, that’s a pretty good one actually,” Louis says. Laughing fully as he turns back to the deadly silent crowd. The problem is, no one begins laughing with him. All eyes seem to be focused on something happening behind him instead. He turns to Zayn, Liam and Niall who are just a step behind them, but find them all looking over Louis’ other shoulder. Louis turns back around to look at Harry again, only he isn’t there. Though, apparently he is, he’s just kneeling. On one knee. Holy fucking shit.

“Wait, hold on a second,” Louis finds himself spluttering. Looking down at Harry who is now pulling out a ring from his pocket. “You can’t be serious.”

“Louis William Tomlinson, it’s been a wild ride for us so far. There’s been a lot of good times, and also our few share of fights I’m sure we’d both like to forget about. You have been there for me since the beginning of it all – this crazy journey of ours – and I would like you to be there until the end. Would you do me the honour of letting me become Harry Edward Tomlinson?” Harry says with a dimpled smile and a flash of the ring.

“What happened to letting me ask you first?” Louis says, though he is smiling and helping Harry stand up. “Guess it didn’t matter too much. Of course I’ll marry you, you bloody idiot. You’re really going to need to work on those jokes of yours though,” Louis says to the thunderous screaming and applause in the background.

“I don’t know, they said to give them my best one. I think I got it just right,” Harry says cheekily, leaning down to press a kiss to Louis’ lips. “Thank you for saying yes,” Harry says into Louis’ ear. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, my darling,” Louis responds before they are being tackled in a hug by their other three best friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next one will be up tomorrow. :) Hope you enjoyed this big bundle of fluff.


	4. The Sex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realised how stupid it was of me to have them staying in a hotel when they live in London. I tried changing it, but certain details just didn't work out then. Anyways, please excuse that mistake and do enjoy reading. :) To be honest, this isn't as much smut as it is kinda leading up to it and fluffiness after the proposal. Sorry if you were looking forward to it. I hate writing smut. -.-

After the concert, the five boys make their way backstage. There isn’t much time to talk unfortunately because Zayn is needed back in America to record the next day, but they all agree to meet up some time soon to sort things out. So, after some last minute congratulations on Zayn’s part, he is leaving just as quickly as he arrived.

Liam and Niall follow up with their congratulations and they spend the next hour or so winding down. There’s even more kind words from crew members, especially those who have become close to the boys for the past four and a half years. They also run through social media quickly. They all knew not to dwell on it too much, as they wouldn’t get a real clear point of view until the following morning when most people will have heard the news, so for now, they just scroll through Twitter to try and see what the general reaction is. They’re happy to see that the response has been fairly positive so far. Though each of the four boys are still giddy from everything that has happened, they each find themselves calming down as their tiredness catches up with them.

After an hour, or so, their security team is rounding them up in order to escort them to the awaiting cars. Their cars are inside the venue, so they won’t have to worry too much about the fans still surrounding the venue, but they are going to have to take extreme measures to make sure they aren’t followed back to the hotel.

From there, it’s only a shot half hour long ride to their hotel they are staying at for the night. They only have one interview happening tomorrow, a purposeful gap to tie up any loose ends and make an official coming out statement. It’s a nighttime interview, one that will be live. So, they won’t have to be anywhere until much later in the day. Everyone is excited as it means they can sleep in the next day. Louis overhears Liam and Niall making plans to do some quick sightseeing around the city tomorrow as they sort the details out with their security team. When Liam is leaning over to invite Louis and Harry along though, he is quick to turn them down. No one is surprised by the answer, they all now that Harry and Louis have a long night ahead of them.

They find themselves safely in their cars a few moments later, fans surrounding the van as it slowly travels down the road. Once they make a couple more turns it appears they have lost everyone, but they make a few more random turns just to make sure. It makes the trip a bit longer on the ride back, but no one complains, not even Harry and Louis who are both starting to feel the anticipation of that night’s events.

As they are walking into the hotel, Louis turns to Harry. “Haz? Would you mind going and spending some time in Liam and Niall’s room for a little bit first? I want to have the time to properly get ready for you,” Louis says. Though some may think of his questions as dirty talk, Harry and Louis both know that Louis is just being completely honest, almost vulnerable.

Louis doesn’t often go all out when they have sex, both usually too rushed to do it proper, but at the occasional chance they find themselves like tonight, it usually takes Louis close to an hour to prepare himself – be that mentally, or physically, maybe even emotionally. Harry doesn’t question it, just nods his head before saying, “Sure, love. However long you need, you know that. Do you mind if I change into some comfier clothes first?”

“Of course not. I think I’m going to take a shower first anyway,” Louis says as the doors to the elevator open on their floor. Harry lets Liam and Niall know he will be joining them in a few minutes before following Louis into their room in order for him to change. Liam and Niall aren’t surprised by the news, though they don’t know for sure what Harry and Louis have planned for the night, they know how Louis gets during times like this.

Louis makes sure to lock the door after Harry leaves. It’s not necessarily because he doesn’t want a stranger entering the room – though that definitely is a something to think about – but it’s more so due to the fact that he doesn’t want Harry to come back early and see him. That happened once earlier on in their relationship, Harry wanting to come back for his phone, only to stumble upon Louis putting on his panties for the first time. It’s not that Harry didn’t know about Louis’ crossdressing fetish. They both thoroughly discussed it before hand, but Louis didn’t take to well to it.

He almost had a near panic attack, tears streaming down his face as he screamed for Harry to leave. Needless to say, they didn’t end up having sex that night. And also many more nights after that. It’s not that Louis had trust issues, he just had this _ritual_. He needed to make sure everything was perfect. The thing is, he _knows_ Harry accepts him in any form. Knows if he shows up looking like he just rolled around in mud wearing sweats with holes in them, Harry will still want to have sex with him. The problem actually comes from Louis’ side.

Louis has a hard time putting himself in such a vulnerable position. He knows that Harry loves when Louis crossdresses, even goes out and buys Louis some clothing and makeup pieces every once in a while, but for some reason, the thought of doing girly things makes him feel very embarrassed. Therefore, he wants to make sure everything is perfect before they begin. It’s the only way he can do things like this without having to colour out.

Louis starts in the ensuite, methodically washing every part of his body. He pulls out his fruity scented soaps as they help him find the right peace of mind. He decides to shave first, knowing it helps calm him. He starts with his legs and works his way up from there, liking when he is as hairless as possible. After washing his hair with shampoo and conditioner as well as using his favourite body wash, he shuts off the shower. He steps out, patting himself dry with one of the towels provided by the hotel.

He pulls out his makeup bag next. He knows he doesn’t want to do anything too crazy. Though they both agreed they like the makeup, Louis decides that tonight he wants Harry to see him in his most natural look, just the Louis Harry fell in love with. He does put some mascara on, however. He loves the way it accentuates his blue eyes.

After putting his makeup bag back in the drawer, he gives himself a quick pep talk into the mirror and then moves to the bedroom. He walks over to his luggage, pulling out his lotion next. He decided to use the one that has some shimmer to it as he likes the way it makes him look a bit tanner. After he makes sure to spread the lotion over every section of his body, he returns the lotion to his suitcase, only to pull out his outfit for the night instead.

He blushes slightly as he lays down all of the separate pieces on the bed. He starts with the black thong first. It’s the most basic part of the outfit, just a simple black silk piece. He slides it up his legs slowly, reveling in the feeling. After a few seconds to let himself cool off, he decides to put on the stockings next. He rolls them on carefully, not wanting the black see through leggings to have a rip in them. After he safely has both stockings on, positioned just a few inches above the knees, he looks over at the last remaining piece. It’s an intricately designed corset, having only two colours, red and black. The main part of it is black, with the crisscross pattern on the front in red. It’s simplistic, but it is his favourite piece he has ever purchased.

He slides it on slowly, sucking in just a tad until it is in place. He makes sure it’s situated correctly, both black straps with red ribbon accents hanging by each thigh, before he reaches behind him to begin tightening the red ribbon holding it together. It’s a bit difficult, having to tilt his arms at an awkward angle in order to get the bow done just right, but he’s been doing this for a while now and is able to get it on the fourth try. Lastly, he reaches down, securing the straps to his stockings.

He takes a deep breath.

Louis allows himself only five minutes to mentally prepare himself after he is finished. He knows if he thinks about things any more, he will begin to overthink things in the worse way possible. Louis knows how good he looks right now. He’s not clueless. Plus, Harry has been asking to see some red in his ensemble lately, instead of his usual black. Louis smiles again at the perfect balance of colours in his look. Taking one last needed breath, Louis unlocks the door and sits on the bed again. He texts Harry to come on over.

Harry knocks on the door slightly, always double checking before he enters the room. He’s learned from his mistakes. After Louis gives him a shy, “Come in,” Harry gently pushes the door open.

Harry’s silent for a few seconds, taking in the scene before him. His breath hitches as he sees Louis’ cock poking out of the top of his thong. He trails his eyes up, loving the way the red looks on Louis, until he meets Louis’ eyes. Harry locks the door behind him, making his way over to the bed. “You are so pretty, Louis. So stunning. I can’t believe you’re mine, princess. All mine. And now, the whole world knows. You’re so beautiful, Louis,” Harry praises, knowing that Louis needs to hear his thoughts in order to get comfortable.

Louis relaxes slightly once Harry finally begins touching him. He starts off innocent, just trailing a hand over Louis’ cheek. He moves his way down to his jaw, then carefully curves his hand around the back of Louis’ neck to lean down and press the most gentle of kisses to Louis’ lips. “You are so breathtaking, baby,” Harry continues to compliment. “I am so lucky to have you.”

Louis gives out a little whine, leaning up to kiss Harry again. “I love you, Harry,” Louis whispers quickly before reaching up to kiss him again. Harry leans into it, pressing firmly as he guides Louis back onto the bed gently. Once Louis is lying on the pillows, Harry pulls back from the kiss.

“I love you, too, Lou. God, you look so good in red,” Harry says, trailing his hand down Louis’ side, leaving the other to hold himself up over Louis. “Did you buy this just for me, love?”

At that, Louis scoffs, flicking his fringe out from his face. “No, H, I bought it for my other boyfriend,” Louis says sarcastically.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Harry tuts. “It’s fiancé now. I’m your fiancé,” Harry reminds him, leaning down to press a kiss to his lips again. “I’m going to be Mr. Harry. Tomlinson,” Harry says, punctuating his new name with a kiss. “And _as_ the soon-to-be Mr. Tomlinson, I think it’s about time a starting taking care of you, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know,” Louis counters. “I would say you have been taking care of me for quite some time now. Just one of the many things I love about you,” Louis says, smiling up at Harry.

“Oh,” Harry taunts, sitting back on his feet to begin to take off his shirt. “And what are the other things you love about me?” Harry asks as he pulls his shirt smoothly over the top of his head. He moves down to take off his trousers as Louis begins speaking.

“I love when you stay up late and talk to me,” Louis begins. “And I love how much you know me. I love how well you know how to take care of my insecurities,” Louis lists, eyes zeroing in on Harry now taking off his pants.

“Do continue,” Harry teases.

“I love your curly hair and your dimples. I love how you talk to my mum as much as I do. I love how confident you are. And so many more things, but you want to know what my favourite thing about you is?” Louis asks, squirming a bit as Harry leans back over him.

“Mmm,” Harry says, tracing his nose against Louis’ neck. “What?”

“You’re amazing jokes,” Louis says straight-faced. It causes Harry to collapse on Louis, head thrown back as he lets out a loud cackle. “I’m serious, Hazza. They never fail to make me laugh, even as lame as they are.” Harry doesn’t dignify a response, just leans back over to kiss Louis. It’s a messy kiss, Harry still giggling a bit. There’s too much teeth, but none of them mind, Louis finally cracking a smile as well.

“On a serious note,” Harry says suddenly, pulling away. “Thank you for saying yes to my proposal today. Also, sorry for springing the Zayn thing on you, but I knew deep down you’d want him there when one of us finally proposed.”

“Thank _you_ for proposing,” Louis says. “And also for knowing what I want, even if I’m too stubborn to admit it. I still can’t believe you proposed,” Louis says, glancing down to the ring on his finger. “Though, I will say one thing. I _am_ sad that I won’t get to see a pretty rock on your finger. I really did think I was going to be the one proposing to _you_. I don’t think I’m going to be able to get the picture of you wearing a diamond ring out of my head anytime soon,” Louis says sadly.

“Nonsense,” Harry says. “I would be honoured to wear a ring. There’s nothing saying we _both_ can’t have rings. In fact, now that you mention it, I kind of want one right now. Will you buy one for me, Lou? Please? Or, or, or!” Harry says excitedly, eyes lighting up, making him look much younger than what he is. “We can go back to the shop I got it from, and we can get matching ones! Do you reckon we can do that? I special ordered your ring because I wanted you to have a one-in-a-kind gem, but maybe they’d make another one for me as well. I think it would be cute,” Harry gushes, now looking down at the ring on Louis finger as well. “We can get them engraved while we are there as well,” Harry says, eyes flicking back up to Louis’.

Louis giggles, feeding off of Harry’s excitement. “I would love nothing more than that,” Louis says sincerely, leaning back up to press a kiss to Harry’s lips. “But can we talk about this tomorrow? I’ve been hard for the past couple of minutes, love. All of this talk about marriage is really doing me in,” Louis explains.

“Of course, I’m surprised I’ve been able to hold off this long, if I’m being honest. Did I mention how beautiful you look?” Harry says again, leaning down to press one more, long kiss to Louis’ lips before reaching down to unhook the corset from his stockings. “Do you think you can keep the corset and stockings on tonight?”

“If you’d prefer,” Louis says easily, moaning slightly as Harry slides off Louis’ black thong. Harry just nods, leaning down to press a kiss to the tip of Louis’ cock. He swallows it all in one go, bobbing down just once to get a taste, before pulling off again. He leans back down again, taking in just a bit this time to work his way up.

“Keep still, honey,” Harry soothes, pressing his hips down slightly. “I want to make this last, yeah? You fuck my mouth like that and I’m going to be coming myself in a couple minutes,” Harry says, licking at the underside of his cock. He makes his way back to the tip, opening his mouth wider as he takes him back in. Harry continues for a couple minutes, slicking his cock up with spit before pulling away, not wanting him to come just yet.

“Do you want to top today?” Harry asks. He already knows Louis is going to say no. He never wants to top when he dresses up, but Harry always wants to make sure anyway. He never wants to force Louis into doing anything he doesn’t want to, _especially_ in the bedroom.

Louis lightly rolls his eyes before fondly saying, “No.” He knows not to say anything at this point, just let’s Harry ask. If Harry can help get him over his insecurities, he can make sure Harry feels sure of himself, too.

“Alright, Lou. Let me just go get the lube,” Harry says, already making his way over to his suitcase on the floor. He comes back with lube in hand, already uncapping it. They’ve stopped using condoms a couple months ago now, though they do still use them on occasion for easier cleanup. Not tonight though, Harry decides, knowing they’ll have plenty of time to clean tomorrow.

Once he has his fingers lathered with the lube, he leans down to press his pointer finger against the rim of Louis’ bum hole. He patiently waits for Louis to adjust before beginning to move his finger around in seemingly random motions, but is actually spelling words like _love_ and _fiancé_ over and over again. He moves to add another finger once Louis says he is ready. Again, he takes his time, slowly moving his fingers in and out. Another five minutes later he adds both his third and fourth finger. It surprises Louis, who lets out a small gasp, before he relaxes back against the pillows again.

After a good half an hour, Harry slides his finger out from Louis, wiping them carelessly on the duvet. He leans back up to press a kiss to Louis’ lips. “Thank you for dressing up for me, Louis. You’re always so beautiful when you do. You always say you love how much confidence I have, but I don’t think you really see how much _you_ have doing this. I love you.”

“I love you too, but can you get inside of me already?” Louis responds.

“Yes, dear,” Harry says, mock rolling his eyes as he reaches for the lube again. After slicking up his cock with more than enough lube, he lines himself up at Louis’ entrance. He pushes in slowly, staying still once he is fully in. After Louis gives him the okay, he slowly begins moving in and out. He makes sure to go slow, but deep as his pace, knowing they will both last longer that way.

And they do. From there it’s a half hour of rhythmic thrusts, a mixture of pants and moans, and soft whisperings back and forth. They smile for a large portion of it, looking forward to their lives together. In fact, the only time they really aren’t smiling is when Harry finally begins picking up speed as he presses into Louis’ prostate with each thrust. Harry comes first, leaning down to kiss Louis whilst he does so. Louis follows not far after, reaching his climax right as Harry finishes dragging his own out.

They both collapse shortly after, both knackered from the last hour. A minute after Harry and Louis are groaning as Harry pulls out. He moves to the ensuite quickly, picking up a flannel from the shelf before getting it a bit damp. He proceeds to clean Louis up, making sure to clean his stomach off thoroughly before moving to catch as much cum from his bum. He haphazardly cleans himself off after, not much cum getting on himself, just a few drops of Louis’ cum on his stomach. He makes sure to take the towel back to the bathroom, rinsing it out as much as possible before hanging it up on the drying rack.

When he returns, he helps Louis out of his clothes, trading them for more comfortable sweats. Harry pulls on the clothes he was wearing before, pushing back the covers so he can snuggle under them with Louis. Louis rolls onto his side, pulling Harry back into his chest. “Goodnight big spoon,” Harry giggles, straining his neck back for one more kiss.

“Goodnight future Mr. Harry Tomlinson. I love you,” Louis says tiredly.

“I love you, too, Louis,” Harry says with all of the love in his voice and a small smile on his face. “Goodnight, boo bear,” Harry says one last time before snuggling back into Louis’ chest just a bit more and promptly falling asleep, worn out from their long, eventful day. Louis follows shortly after, a smile gracing his lips as he presses one last kiss to Harry’s shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next one will be up tomorrow. For sure this time, I'm not lying. This one just took an extra day because I got really uncomfortable writing about sex. It's why it's a bit longer as well. I felt bad for taking an extra day. Plus, I had already written 1500 words by the time I had even thought of starting the smut. I just figured it would be weird to be like yay they're getting married to woohoo, let's have sex. So, yeah. Then I felt bad for only having 500 words of smut. Because like, you can't have a good sex scene in only 500 words. Not that mine was better with more than 500 words... Sorry, sorry. Hopefully it wasn't too terrible. Tomorrow's should make up for it. 
> 
> Hopefully you are all here for the fluff anyways. That's what I am best at. None of this smut stuff. This is just a way for me to write 100% Larry fluff. Fluffy fluff fluff. I love fluff. :) :) :)


	5. The Interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry everyone. This has actually been written for a while. Like I mentioned in the previous chapter, I would for sure have it up the next day. I DID finish writing it that day, I just accidentally saved it as a draft instead of publishing it. Therefore, a MASSIVE thank you to 89curlie for letting me know just now. I'm glad you did as drafts only stay for 1 month before disappearing. :( 
> 
> On the plus side, I was able to go back and add some more detail during this chapter, even including the line Harry said during his radio interview the other day, so yeah. Hopefully you like it. Sorry again for my mistake. 
> 
> Enjoy :)

“One Direction is with us tonight,” the host, Maria, begins. “They’ll be joining us right after our first commercial break so make sure to stay tuned.”

While the host continues doing her opening monologue, backstage, One Direction’s new managers were running around rapidly gathering each of the four lads in order to give them last minute instructions. Once all four of them are standing in a small huddle, Matthew, their new manager begins. “Alright, guys. This is the last big thing for a bit, at least about all of this coming out stuff and new marriage proposal,” he adds, shooting a halfhearted glare in Harry’s direction. In all honesty, it wasn’t too big of a deal. It saves them from having to do a buildup for that announcement as well.

“A couple last minute things,” Matthew continues. “We’ve decided to have Harry sit closest to the interviewer, followed by Louis, Niall, then Liam. Louis, you are probably going to be answering a few more questions than the others because of Project No Control. We are hoping that by putting Harry between you and the interviewer, you’ll be a bit touchy feely with him – not that that will be hard to do,” he half mumbles. “Keep it PG though, yes lads? A hand on a knee, an arm around their shoulders…” he suggests. “We didn’t ban any questions from being asked, as per your request, so if one comes up that you aren’t sure about, you’ll just have to do your best to divert. Harry, you seem pretty good at that,” Matthew says, shooting him a sidelong glance. “I don’t think there’s going to be any of those, though. There’s just too much to talk about already, if I’m being honest.

“Lastly,” Matthew continues.  “I know with your previous management team, you looked off camera a lot in order to get approval for something you were about to say. Though your first thought may be to do that with us, you need to refrain from doing it as much as you can. You’re going through another big change by switching management, yeah? Fans are going to be wondering if you are controlled by us, as well.”

“But we’re not,” Harry points out. “We have a contract that says so.”

“Yes, _I_ know that, but the fans are going to be skeptical,” Matthew says.  “Rightfully so if you ask me,” he mumbles under his breath before continuing. “The point is we need to convince the fans of that and I don’t think just saying it is going to work. So, avoid looking off camera for permission. You don’t need it. You can say whatever you want from now on. Well, except anything bad about us, and probably yourselves, too. Use common sense, yeah?” he advises.

The four of them take a moment to digest what Matthew just said. They knew they were officially free from all of that stuff, but to actually here out loud was something else. They were _free_. They didn’t need to worry anymore about hiding certain parts of their lives. Harry and Louis can finally admit they are gay. They can finally kiss out in the open. They could _talk_ to each other. Harry gets a little light headed at the thought, but doesn’t have to worry too much as Louis is right next to him, reaching out to hold his hand as soon as it happens. Harry squeezes back gratefully.

“Last thing,” Mathew picks up again. “We know we are not allowed to tell you what to say, _but_ if you would allow us to _suggest_ , we would refrain from mentioning anything about Zayn rejoining the band. You don’t need to deny it, but maybe just skirt around the question. That way, if things end up going badly, you’re not thought to be lying to your fans. And also, it will make the impact bigger in the future.”

“Of course,” Harry says quickly. “We were planning on doing that already, but you don’t need to worry about giving us advise in the future. That’s your job, innit? What we hire you for. We may look like divas now for making that clause be a part of our contract, but it was really just to ensure Louis and I could come out and, well, anything else we wanted to say to our fans should the situation arise. When you’ve been tied down for so long, you just want to make sure you have all of your exits covered, yeah? It’s going to be a learning curve for all of us, but we really _aren’t_ divas. The media at least got _that_ part right,” Harry finishes with a dimpled smile.

“Right,” Matthew says, slightly breathless. “Right,” he repeats again, a little flustered. “A learning curve, indeed.” Then after a short pause, “You’re going to called on in a few, you should go wait in the wings.” He says, gesturing in the vague direction of the stage. Harry gives them man a small smile as he leads Louis away with a hand on the small of his back. Liam clasps Matthew on the back before leading Niall away as well.

Once the interviewer calls them on stage, the four members of One Direction walk out in the order they were told to sit. They all say quick hellos to Maria before they take their spots on the sofa, fitting comfortably since Zayn left the band. After the applaud dies down, Maria begins, “Hello One Direction, how are all of you tonight?”

“Wonderful,” Harry says, dimples poking out. “How are you?”

“I’m fine as well, thank you for asking,” Maria says. She looks down at her first notecard before stating, “I know you’ve had a busy couple of months.” After a quick round of laughs, Maria continues. “Shall we just jump right in? Let’s start at the beginning. Back to what started all of this mayhem that is One Direction nowadays, and that is, Zayn quitting. Were you at all surprised that he left the band when he did?”

“I think,” Liam starts off. “We were a little surprised at first. Not so much in the fact that he actually quit, but in the way he did it. I think if you really knew him, saw him day in and day out, you could see just how much he began to hate it. He definitely wanted to get out of the spotlight. It’s always been something fun for us to do. You’re on tour with your best mates and you get to travel all over the world.

“A big problem is that people, the fans, really only get to see us at our best. They see us jumping around on stage with a smile on our face, or goofing off during interviews – even on social media we try to keep everything positive and happy. Behind the scenes though, things really begin taking a toll on you, especially Zayn. It’s a bit different for each person. I think we can all agree Harry, here, lives for the spotlight,” Liam says, poking fun at Harry a bit with a smile in his general direction. “He takes things in stride, brushes things off a bit easier than the rest of us do. Not that the rest of us don’t. We’ve all gotten a lot better over the years. I think some things just sit differently with everyone. Unfortunately Zayn had rumours going on about him that just rubbed him the wrong way and he decided to get out while he could.

“So, yeah, we weren’t all that surprised by his decision. To us, it was more that he did it over the phone. We’ve always said we’d end it with a bang if we decided to quit. You know, _give_ the one last concert, _give_ the tell-all at the end. It put us in a weird position, having to let all of our fans know through a Facebook post what was going on. On that note, a massive apology to all of our fans for that one. We know it was a terrible way to break the news, we were all just a bit shocked at the time, but we still had to move fast. But like I said, we are all best mates, for him to just pull out in that way was difficult,” Liam concludes. “We’ve all had time to cope with it though. These past couple months have been good for us.”

“I noticed you said _are_ best mates, does that mean you are still friends with Zayn? I’m pretty sure many of us saw the short twitter feud between Louis and Zayn a couple weeks ago,” Maria prompts.

“Ah,” Louis sighs, expecting the question. “That one was my bad. As Liam was saying, we were a bit angry at how Zayn handled the situation. I’m not the best at holding back my temper, so I think I just took it out on him. Unfortunately, that happened in a very public space and our fans had to see it, but that’s just the way it works out sometimes. I don’t know about the rest of the lads, but it hurt me to see Zayn quit, claiming he wants to be a ‘Normal twenty-two year old,’ and then the next day announcing a solo career. My ego was a bit wounded. It’s all good now, we’ve talked about it since then. Besides, it’s not all that shocking, really. Zayn doing a solo career is definitely what’s best for him right now.”

“That’s great to hear,” Maria states, though she sounds rather sad at the lack of a good story.

 “The next thing the fans have been asking me to talk to you about today is Project No Control. I’m sure by now you’ve seen all that has happened with your song, yes?” Maria asks.

Louis smiles brightly, reaching up to drape his arm around Harry’s shoulders. Harry reaches down to pat Louis’ knee in response, settling it there afterwards. “Yeah, I think we’ve all seen it by now. It’s incredible, really. The fans decided that they were fed up with how awful our past management was in promoting the album and decided to take matters into their own hands. I can’t really disagree with them in that aspect.

“When we originally came out with the album – _Four_ – we were all really proud of it. It’s sixteen tracks, most of them written by us, in which we were excited to share with the world. I don’t know who’s to blame, or if there is anything even _to_ blame when it’s all said and done, but we only had two tracks released. That’s a shame really because some of the ones on the album _should_ be released, at least in my humble opinion. We’ve said over the years how we want to continue growing as a band, and to some extent we hope our audience grows as well. I think it’s very hard to continue growing as a band when you only are releasing two of our songs, and maybe not even some of the best ones on the album.

“It becomes very evident to us that there are some standout songs on the album during our concerts. I feel like we can barely get through a song without someone requesting ‘Stockholm Syndrome.’ Likewise, nowadays, ‘No Control’ has picked up momentum. Should these have been released as singles? Probably.

“There were a lot of reasons why more songs weren’t released. There was a lot of things happening all at once these past couple of months. We also have been coming out with a new album every year so far. Combine that with world tours and it’s hard to find the time to do the necessary promotion for each single. That’s not to say it _couldn’t_ have been done, but it’s a bit more complicated than people expect.

“Besides that lovely rant,” Louis giggles. “As I’ve said before, it really _is_ incredible to see Project No Control take place. To see all of our fans come together like that was just amazing. It was hard to put my phone down at times. I finally understand all that our fans go through,” Louis jokes. “I was up all night scrolling through twitter and tumblr. It’s exhausting stuff, that is. Poor Harry, here, had to pry my phone from my hands some nights.

“It’s been a month and I still don’t have the words to express how grateful I am, how happy. People are always saying how crazy are fans can get, and I think people automatically associate that word with the worse things possible. I don’t necessarily see it that way, they may be crazy, but look at what they are doing. They stuck up for me in a time where I really could appreciate it, and they just let it grow into this uniting project for them all – for _us_ all. It was incredible to watch happen, it’s _still_ incredible. I don’t know any other fans who have accomplished something quite so big. We love you,” Louis concludes, turning to face into the camera.

“That’s lovely,” Maria follows up. “Does it surprise you at times how much your fans do for you?”

“Yes,” Liam is quick to say. “All the time. We’ve been saying it since day one. It’s not what we do for them, it’s what they do for us, truly. They are the reason we are here today. They are the reason ‘No Control’ is pretty much a new single for us. They are the reason I wake up every day, and the reason I go to bed thinking about how lucky I am. We would be nowhere without them. We cannot thank you enough,” Liam finishes.

“Wonderful, wonderful,” Maria says, shuffling through the notecards in her hands. “Alright, moving on. Harry and Louis,” Maria says pointedly, staring up at the two. “Or should I just call you Larry Stylinson from now on?” she giggles. “You’ve surprised the world by coming out last night. Here is a short clip in case you somehow missed it,” Maria says, gesturing to the screen behind them where the professional clip One Direction’s team shot is playing. Once the clip finishes, Maria says, “Now, I’m sure you have been online looking at the response. You two have taken the top nine spots in the world wide trends on twitter.”

“Have we really?” Harry asks, incredulous. “We actually haven’t been on social media yet. We’ve, uh, we’ve been a little busy,” Harry says, blushing. Louis cackles, throwing his head back in laughter before pressing a quick kiss to Harry’s cheek.

“It’s okay, love,” Louis says quietly before turning back towards the interviewer. “Sorry, continue.”

“No worries,” Maria says, smiling at the two, knowing the audience is eating this up. “Well, since you _haven’t_ been online, I guess I’ll be the one to tell you it has been pretty much all positive responses. Knowing that, did you have a good feeling that the overwhelming response from your fans would be positive, or did you still have some doubts?”

“Um,” Louis says, peering at Harry for a second. “I think so,” Louis says a bit unsurely. “We were told by our new management that they thought the response would be good. Plus, people have been speculating about us for pretty much our whole career. With each day that passes, we seemed to gain a few more fans. You can go on some of those fan fiction sites and there are literally tens of thousands of stories about us. Therefore, I think we thought it would be okay. We knew we’d at least have _some_ fans coming out of this.

“There’s always some doubt though. Not everyone is as lucky in having such great fans. Some people aren’t in a position in which they _can_ come out right now. Though gay rights movements have been popping up everywhere, they’re nowhere close to where they need to be. Gratefully, we are in a position in which we are able to come out. Hopefully we can inspire others in doing so as well,” Louis finishes.

“ _If_ it’s safe,” Harry adds seriously. “That’s most important.”

“How long have you two been together?” Maria asks next.

“Our three year anniversary is in two weeks,” Harry says without missing a beat.

“Oh, _Harreh_ ,” Louis says, snuggling a bit further into Harry’s side.

“Congratulations,” Maria says. “Did they tell you guys right away?” Maria asks, turning towards Niall and Liam again, not wanting them to feel excluded from the interview.

“Yeah,” Niall says. “When you see each other as much as we do, you can’t really keep secrets. If they didn’t tell us right away, it was only a matter of time before we caught them snogging on the tour bus. Besides, it wasn’t very hard to guess. They practically snuggled every change they got. We actually all had bets going as to when they would get together. All of us though they would get together sooner than they did, but _we’re_ just happy that _they_ are happy. Even if that does mean having to hear them being their stupid, lovey dovey selves all of the time,” Niall says, mock glaring in Harry and Louis’ direction.

After a round of laughter through the audience, Maria asks, “During the proposal, Zayn came out on stage with you all, does that mean there may be plans of Zayn rejoining the band now that you have left Modest! Management?” Maria asks next.

“Not at this time, no,” Liam says to the dissatisfaction from the audience.  “It’s like we were saying before, Zayn made a choice that was best for him. He is definitely going to be releasing a solo album, something I’m sure we are all looking forward to,” Liam winks to the camera. “The rest is up to him. If he wants to come back, of course we’ll let him, but he needs to do what’s best for him and One Direction may not necessarily be it. Whatever makes him happy is what will happen,” Liam reiterates.

“So, when is the big wedding?” Maria asks once Liam has finished talking.

“Jesus,” Louis says, laughing a bit. “We’ve just got engaged yesterday!” Louis laughs some more, a bit hysterical. “We don’t know yet. Probably not for a good while. Definitely not before the tour is over. Then we will probably want to spend a good couple of months planning for it. Not to mention the new album coming out,” Louis says, suddenly getting anxious. “Oh my goodness, Hazza. We are never going to get married!”

“Yes we will, Lou,” Harry reassures him. “Worst case we’ll just have our mothers plan it all for us, so all we have to do is walk down the aisle when we get back,” Harry jokes. “I can’t wait too long. I’m getting a little impatient now that it’s officially going to happen. I _really_ want to be Mr. Tomlinson,” Harry says, looking Louis in the eyes. Louis relaxes, reaching forward to press a kiss to Harry’s lips.

“That you’ll be, Harry. That you’ll be,” Louis promises, pressing one last kiss to his nose to the chorus of _aw_ s in the background.

“Alright, we’ll take a quick commercial break and then we’ll be back with news of their new album,” Maria says facing the camera. After the commercial break is done, Maria gives her welcome back speech before jumping right back into the questions. “So, new album. How is it coming along? Is it different now that Zayn’s gone?”

“It’s going well, so far,” Harry answers truthfully. “Zayn leaving, although sad, has given us a lot of emotions in which we can transfer into our songs. Not that our whole album is going to be sad ballads,” Harry protests, holding his hand out in a sort of stopping motion, as if he can stop people’s thoughts himself. “There’s going to be some love songs, too,” Harry says, winking fondly down at Louis. “I think we’ve always said that One Direction wouldn’t be the same if one of us weren’t in the band,” Harry says, moving back to the question at hand. “And to some extent that is very true. We’re _not_ the same. It’s definitely going to be hard losing Zayn. It’s _been_ hard.

“So yes, the writing process is a little bit different now that Zayn is gone. I think after the previous four albums, we kind of found a rhythm that worked for us most of the time. There were are lot of parts in past songs that we would pen with Zayn in mind. He has a lovely voice for doing those ending riffs. Not that the rest of us can’t, but Zayn just does it a little bit better, y’know?

“So, we’ve had to find a different thing that works for us. It’s been a bit difficult. I know Louis and Liam like going out with Julian to write songs a lot. It seems to be working if Simon Cowell is anything to go by. He liked the last couple songs we’ve given him,” Harry says. “I think the fans should expect a different sounding album, but hopefully it’s still just as good as our others.”

“Just really quickly before we need to say goodnight, you mentioned Simon Cowell. Though you dropped Modest!, you are still with Syco Records? Did you ever think of dropping Syco as well, or did you always plan on staying with Syco?” Maria asks.

“We could never leave Simon,” Louis says with a smile on his face. “Not only do we owe the man for everything he has done for us, but he also never did anything _bad_ to us. We dropped Modest! because we didn’t like some of the rules set for us. Simon has been with us since day one of our band, and I would assume he will be with us on the last day of our band. Not that that’s going to be any time soon,” Louis assures the fan, smiling at the audience.  

“Alright, thank you for stopping in tonight to talk to us,” Maria says. “Goodnight everyone, have a lovely evening,” she finishes, facing the camera. Once the cameras are off, everyone begins moving. Audience members begin leaving the venue, crew members begin shutting off equipment, and the boys are quick to thank Maria before making their way backstage to find Matthew. Once they find him, they all begin making their way to the vans that will take them all home for the next few days before they are off to America to begin their next leg of the tour.

This time though, Harry and Louis will be doing it without having to hide who they are. The future may be a little bit shaky for them, Zayn rejoining the band and their new album coming out, but at least they will always have each other. Harry captures Louis’ lips in his own at the thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this. :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. :)


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